The author was involved in philosophy for children (p4c) Hawai'i for many years during her graduate studies. It was her first introduction to "teaching," or, more accurately, the facilitation of philosophical inquiry. What she would call the "p4c pedagogy" has become infused into her undergraduate teaching. The Good Thinker's Toolkit, the model of reflective community inquiry, and the desire to "scratch beneath the surface" are woven into the foundation of her courses, even when p4c is never explicitly discussed. At the beginning of each semester though, there is one concept that stands out as a recurring challenge: intellectual safety. Intellectual safety is often conflated with the feeling of being comfortable. It is her claim that intellectual growth, for both an individual and a community, must involve some kind of discomfort. She sees this discomfort as a natural by-product of an initiation to interactive, dialogue-driven learning. She recommends that educators reconceive intellectual safety to embrace something more than simply feeling comfortable.

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